Stratagems for the Winning Battle勝戰計

陰謀作為，不能背於秘處行之。夜半行竊，僻巷殺人，愚俗之行，非謀士之所為也。

The working of a hidden plan is not carried out by turning aside into some secret corner. Thieving at midnight and killing a man in a back alley are the doings of fools and vulgar men, not what a strategist does.

治兵如治水，銳者避其鋒，如導疏；弱者塞其虛，如築堰。故當齊救趙時，孫子謂田忌曰：「夫解雜亂糾紛者不控拳，救鬥者，不搏擊，批亢搗虛，形格勢禁，則自為解耳。」

Handling troops is like handling water. Against the sharp, avoid his point, as one opens a channel to lead the water off. Against the weak, block up his empty place, as one builds a dike. So when Qi went to rescue Zhao, Sun Zi said to Tian Ji, "One who unties a tangled skein does not strike it with his fist. One who breaks up a brawl does not trade blows. Press the throat and stab the empty place, and the shape is blocked and the force is checked, so the thing unties itself."

孫子謂田忌曰

Sun Zi here is Sun Bin, the strategist of Qi. — translator

敵象已露，而另一勢力更張，將有所為，便應借此力以毀敵人。如：鄭桓公將欲襲鄶，先向鄶之豪傑、良臣、辨智、果敢之士，盡書姓名，擇鄶之良田賂之，為官爵之名而書之，因為設壇場郭門之處而埋之，釁之以雞豭，若盟狀。鄶君以為內難也，而盡殺其良臣。桓公襲鄶，遂取之。諸葛亮之和吳拒魏，及關羽圍樊、襄，曹欲徙都，懿及蔣濟說曹曰：「劉備、孫權外親內疏，關羽得志，權心不願也。可遣人躡其後，許割江南以封權，則樊圍自釋。」曹從之，羽遂見擒。

When the enemy's shape is already exposed and another power grows and is about to act, one should borrow that power to destroy the enemy. So it was when Duke Huan of Zheng meant to strike Kuai. First he wrote down in full the names of Kuai's bold men, its good ministers, its clever debaters and its resolute officers. He chose the good fields of Kuai and said he would give them over, and he wrote in the titles of office as well. Then he raised an altar ground outside the city gate and buried the document there, and smeared it with the blood of a cock and a boar, as though an oath had been sworn. The lord of Kuai took it for a rising within, and he killed all his good ministers. Duke Huan struck Kuai and so took it. So too Zhuge Liang made peace with Wu to hold off Wei. And when Guan Yu besieged Fan and Xiang and Cao Cao wished to move the capital, Sima Yi and Jiang Ji urged Cao Cao, "Liu Bei and Sun Quan are close on the outside and thin within. Sun Quan does not wish in his heart to see Guan Yu get his way. Send a man to follow at his back, and promise to cut off Jiangnan and enfeoff Sun Quan with it, and the siege of Fan will loosen of itself." Cao Cao followed this, and Guan Yu was taken in the end.

此即致敵之法也。兵書云：「凡先處戰地而待敵者佚，後處戰地而趨戰者勞。故善戰者，致人而不致於人。」兵書論敵，此為論勢，則其旨非擇地以待敵，而在以簡馭繁，以不變應變，以小變應大變，以不動應動，以小動應大動，以樞應環也。管仲寓軍令於內政，實而備之；孫臏於馬陵道伏擊龐涓；李牧守雁門，久而不戰，而實備之，戰而大破匈奴。

This is the way of making the enemy come. The book of war says, "Whoever reaches the field of battle first and waits for the enemy is at ease. Whoever reaches it later and hurries into the fight is weary. So one who is good at war makes others come to him and is not made to go to them." The book of war speaks of the enemy; here the speech is of force. Its intent is not to choose the ground and wait for the enemy, but to drive the many by the simple, to answer change with what does not change, to answer great change with small change, to answer motion with stillness, to answer great motion with small motion, and to answer the ring with the hinge. Guan Zhong lodged the army's orders within the civil government, and made himself solid and ready. Sun Bin lay in wait for Pang Juan on the road at Maling. Li Mu guarded Yanmen and for a long while did not fight, yet made himself solid and ready, and when he fought he broke the Xiongnu utterly.

敵害在內，則劫其地；敵害在外，則劫其民；內外交害，則劫其國。如：越王乘吳國內蟹稻不遺種而謀攻之，後卒乘吳北會諸侯於黃池之際，國內空虛，因而搗之，大獲全勝。

When the enemy's harm is within, plunder his land. When his harm is without, plunder his people. When harm comes upon him both within and without, plunder his state. So it was when the king of Yue plotted to attack Wu, where crabs had eaten the rice and not a seed was left. In the end he rode the moment when the king of Wu went north to meet the lords at Huangchi and the country within stood empty, and he fell upon it and won a complete victory.

西漢，七國反，周亞夫堅壁不戰。吳兵奔壁之東南陬，亞夫便備西北；已而吳王精兵果攻西北，遂不得入。此敵志不亂，能自主也。漢末，朱雋圍黃巾於宛，張圍結壘，起土山以臨城內，鳴鼓攻其西南，黃巾悉眾赴之；雋自將精兵五千，掩其東北，遂乘虛而入。此敵志亂萃，不虞也。然則聲東擊西之策，須視敵志亂否為定。亂，則勝；不亂，將自取敗亡，險策也。

In the Western Han, when the seven states rebelled, Zhou Yafu held his walls fast and would not fight. The troops of Wu rushed the southeast corner of the wall, and Zhou Yafu at once made the northwest ready. Soon the crack troops of the king of Wu did attack the northwest, and they could not get in. Here the enemy's mind was not stirred, and he could hold himself. At the end of the Han, Zhu Jun besieged the Yellow Turbans at Wan. He spread his lines and knit his ramparts and raised an earthen hill to look down into the city, and he beat the drums and attacked the southwest. The Yellow Turbans threw their whole host that way. Zhu Jun himself led five thousand crack troops and fell upon the northeast, and so came in through the empty place. Here the enemy's mind was stirred and scattered and he was not ready. So the plan of making a noise in the east and striking in the west must be settled by looking to whether the enemy's mind is stirred or not. If it is stirred, you win. If it is not, you bring your own defeat and ruin upon yourself. It is a dangerous plan.